About
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
February 2000 - present
Position
- Lecturer
Description
- Lecture on environmental life cycle assessment on bachelor and master level
Education
May 1996 - March 1998
November 1981 - January 1986
Publications
Publications (210)
Wood and bio-based construction products are perceived as a way to use renewable resources, to save energy and to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG)-emissions during production and to store carbon during the entire service life of the building. This article compares the carbon footprint per kilogram of wood products (softwood beams, plywood, oriented st...
Globally, interest in understanding the life cycle related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of buildings is increasing. Robust data is required for benchmarking and analysis of parameters driving resource use and whole life carbon (WLC) emissions. However, open datasets combining information on energy and material use as well as whole life carbon emi...
The purpose of this report is to illustrate the contribution of the International Energy Agency - Energy in Buildings and Communities (IEA EBC) Programme Annex 72 members to the topic of life-cycle multi- objective optimization of buildings performance.
Wood and other bio-based building materials are often perceived as a good choice from a climate mitigation perspective. This article compares the life cycle assessment of the same multi-residential building from the perspective of 16 countries participating in the international project Annex 72 of the International Energy Agency to determine the ef...
Buildings’ construction and operation are major contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the substantial reduction of GHG emissions across their full life cycle is required to enable meeting international climate targets. For effective climate change mitigation - as recent studies have shown - a special focus has to be put on lowe...
In a context of digitalization and increasing quality requirements, the building sector is facing an increasing level of complexity regarding its design process. This results in a growing number of involved actors from different domains, a multitude of tasks to be completed and a higher degree of needed expertise. New buildings are also required to...
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used as a tool by the building industry and actors to assess the global warming potential (GWP) of building activities. In several countries, life cycle based requirements on GWP are currently being incorporated into building regulations. After the establishment of general calculation rules for buil...
Interpreting contradictory results of multiple midpoint environmental indicators is challenging task. Hence, partial or full aggregation into building single scores has gained ground for the clear message they convey. This paper helps to improve understanding of the possibilities and limitations of such practice. Partial aggregated scores of five b...
Swiss ´Ecofactors´ for environmental impact assessment and weighting in LCA (life cycle assessment) and Ecobalances, version 2021.
Declaration with recommendation addressed to different stakeholder on reducing the life cycle related environmental impacts of buildings.
This chapter gives an overview of the mainstream approaches and solutions to the problem of multifunctionality in the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) phase. Many industrial processes are multifunctional. Their purpose generally comprises more than a single product or service. Practitioners in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are thus faced with the problem t...
Summary of IEA PVPS t12-19:2020 report "Life Cycle Inventories and Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaic Systems", including impact assessment results for residential scale PV systems installed in Switzerland
![Figure 1: Product system of PV electricity production, adapted from [1]](profile/Rolf-Frischknecht-3/publication/347999880/figure/fig1/AS:974400421629953@1609326572154/Product-system-of-PV-electricity-production-adapted-from-1_Q320.jpg)
Life Cycle Inventory data on PV electricity supply chains in EcoSpold v1 Format
Introduction: The international research project IEA EBC Annex 72 investigates the life cycle related environmental impacts caused by buildings. The project aims inter alia to harmonise LCA approaches on buildings. Methods: To identify major commonalities and discrepancies among national LCA approaches, reference buildings were defined to present a...
Design practitioners' knowledge about Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is crucial for the necessary decarbonisation of the built environment as well as the mitigation of other negative environmental impacts. Designers' attitudes towards LCA have so far been rarely analysed. In 2019, as part of the project IEA EBC Annex 72 "Assessing life cycle related e...
In the face of the unfolding climate crisis, the role and importance of reducing Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector is increasing. This study investigates the global trends of GHG emissions occurring across the life cycle of buildings by systematically compiling life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and analysing more than 650 bu...
The application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique to a building requires the collection and organization of a large amount of data over its life cycle. The systematic decomposition method can be used to classify building components, elements and materials, overcome specific difficulties that are encountered when attempting to complete th...
This report deals with life cycle assessments of future production of construction materials. In view of the massive greenhouse gas reductions that will be needed over the next two to three decades to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Convention, it is inevitable that greenhouse gas emissions will also be significantly reduced in the building...
Several different definitions of ‘net-zero’ or ‘climate-neutral’ buildings have arisen and are causing confusion. Different approaches quantify the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of buildings over their life-cycle. A typology is proposed based on distinctions between absolute and net-zero-emission buildings in relation to operational and full life-...
The real estate sector and its supply chains, 'i.e.' up- and downstream processes, are responsible for a significant share of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in most countries. The GHG emissions from the Swiss building stock are quantified and the hotspots identified along its supply chain using the multiregional, environmentally extended input–...
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-020-01736-6
free view only version: https://rdcu.be/b1dDH
Purpose
The safeguard subject of the Area of Protection “natural Resources,” particularly regarding mineral resources, has long been debated. Consequently, a variety of life cycle impact assessment methods based on different concepts are ava...
PurposeAssessing impacts of abiotic resource use has been a topic of persistent debate among life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method developers and a source of confusion for life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners considering the different interpretations of the safeguard subject for mineral resources and the resulting variety of LCIA methods...
In der Wirkungsabschätzung geht es darum, die Informationen aus der Sachbilanz (d. h. die Ergebnisse mit den kumulierten Schadstoffemissionen und Ressourcenverbräuchen) für die Kommunikation und/oder die Entscheidungsunterstützung auf wenige (Umwelt-)Parameter zu verdichten. Eine Verdichtung bedeutet, dass eine Gewichtung oder Priorisierung der vor...
Als funktionelle Einheit eignet sich besonders gut „1-mal Tragen eines T-Shirts“ (oder 100-mal), da dies die Funktion des Stück Stoffes wiedergibt und die unterschiedliche Lebensdauer von Baumwoll- und Polyester-T-Shirts berücksichtigt.
Dieses Kapitel enthält Hinweise auf einführende Literatur (Abschn. 8.2), Ökobilanzdiskussionsforen und -drehscheiben (Abschn. 8.3), Ökobilanzfachzeitschriften (Abschn. 8.4), Ökobilanzdatenbanken (Abschn. 8.5) und Ökobilanzsoftware (Abschn. 8.6). Am Schluss dieses Kapitels (Abschn. 8.7) werden zehn Ratschläge gegeben, mit denen eine handwerklich bes...
Nach der Wirkungsabschätzung werden in der letzten Phase der Ökobilanzmethode – der Interpretation – Sensitivitäts- und Unsicherheitsanalysen durchgeführt und Aussagen zur Datenqualität gemacht.
In den vorhergehenden Kapiteln wurde die klassische Ökobilanzmethode vorgestellt, wie sie von Unternehmen im Alltag zur Dokumentation der Umweltbelastung eines Produkts oder für Produktvergleiche verwendet wird. In diesem Kapitel gehen wir auf methodische Ansätze ein, die für ausgewählte Fragestellungen geeignet sein können oder vor allem in größer...
In diesem Kapitel wird das Vorgehen in der Sachbilanz, der zweiten Phase der Ökobilanz, beschrieben. Zu diesem Zweck werden zunächst die in einem technischen Prozess auftretenden Energie- und Stoffflüsse charakterisiert und klassifiziert (Abschn. 3.2). In Abschn. 3.3 werden die mathematischen Grundlagen der Ökobilanzmodellierung beschrieben und in...
Die Festlegung des Ziels und des Untersuchungsrahmens beinhaltet eine Vielzahl von Entscheiden, welche für die nachfolgenden Phasen Sachbilanz und Wirkungsabschätzung von zentraler Bedeutung sind und das Vorgehen im weiteren Verlauf einer Ökobilanzstudie weitgehend vorbestimmen. Diese Entscheide sind oft mit Werturteilen verbunden. Diese Phase ents...
Dieses Kapitel dient dazu, die Theorie der vorhergehenden Kapitel anhand eines Fallbeispiels anzuwenden. Mit den Ihnen zur Verfügung gestellten Informationen sollten Sie nachfolgende Fragen beantworten können. Ausführliche Antworten sind in Kap. 10 zu finden.
In wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften ist das Peer Review ein etabliertes Vorgehen, um die Qualität der Beiträge und damit der Forschung zu gewährleisten. In der Ökobilanzforschung und bei der Erstellung von Ökobilanzen wird diesem Aspekt mit den im Jahr 2006 veröffentlichten, revidierten ISO-Normen (ISO 14040 und 14044; ISO 2006a, b) Beachtung gesch...
Ein Übersichtsartikel zur Ökobilanz als Instrument in Unternehmen und Politik, zur Beurteilung von Alternativen und im Umweltmanagement, und zur Geschichte der Ökobilanz-Entwicklung aus schweizerischer Perspektive.
- Wie geht Ökobilanzieren? - eine Einführung
- Essenziell: Daten und Gewichtung - die Datenbank Ecoinvent und der Methode der ökologis...
Article de base sur l'analyse de cycle de vie ACV ou écobilan, comme outil pour entreprises et l'administration, pour l'analyse d'alternatives et pour la gestion environnementale, et sur l'histoire de l'ACV/écobilan d'un point de vue Suisse. Les sou-chapitres:
- Comment réalise-t-on un écobilan ou une analyse de cycle de vie
- Points cruciaux: les...
Buildings are major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contributors to the climate crisis. To meet climate-change mitigation needs, one must go beyond operational energy consumption and related GHG emissions of buildings and address their full life cycle. This study investigates the global trends of GHG emissions arising across the life...
In diesem Buch werden die Grundzüge der Methode der Ökobilanzierung erläutert, aktuelle Bewertungsmethoden vorgestellt sowie praktische Hinweise für den Einstieg gegeben. Ein Exkurs in die Geschichte der Ökobilanzierung zeigt die lange Tradition des Lebenswegdenkens auf, welches seit dem 19. Jahrhundert praktiziert wird. Die Leserinnen und Leser be...
Globalization has been one main driver affecting our whole economy. Thus, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) associated with imports and exports should get addressed in addition to the national emission inventory according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is focused on territorial emissions only. To enable a...
Purpose
The 71st LCA forum was held on 18 June 2019 in Zurich, Switzerland, to discuss the current status and future plans of environmental benchmarking for buildings in view of the 1.5 °C target stipulated in the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement requires a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, in fact net zero by 2050. One of the...
The IEA EBC Annex 72 focuses on the assessment of the primary energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts of buildings during production, construction, use (including repair and replacement) and end of life (dismantling), i.e. during the entire life cycle of buildings. In one of its activities, reference buildings (size, mater...
Investment decisions for buildings made today largely determine their environmental impacts over many future decades due to their long lifetimes. Such decisions involve a trade-off between additional investments today and potential savings during use and at end of life - in terms of economic costs, primary energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissio...
Purpose
Regionalized life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) has rapidly developed in the past decade, though its widespread application, robustness, and validity still face multiple challenges. Under the umbrella of UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, a dedicated cross-cutting working group on regionalized LCIA aims to provide an overview of the status...
Purpose
Guidance is needed on best-suited indicators to quantify and monitor the man-made impacts on human health, biodiversity and resources. Therefore, the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative initiated a global consensus process to agree on an updated overall life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) framework and to recommend a non-comprehensive list of...
The Office for Building Engineering of the City of Zurich plans the construction of a cloakroom and club building. The building and the floodlights of the surrounding soccer fields use electricity mainly in the evening. That is why the installation of a photovoltaic (PV) system in combination with a battery storage system is evaluated in the pre‐pr...
This study shows the development of Switzerland’s consumption-based environmental impact from 1996 to 2015 (environmental footprints). It is based on a combination of emissions, trade, and life cycle assessment data. The latter were regionalised for the biodiversity and water footprint for the first time.
Switzerland’s resulting footprints are not...
The present study determines the environmental impacts of the production of five different cut roses: conventional roses from Ecuador, average and Fairtrade roses from Kenya and conventional roses and roses from optimised production from Holland. The agricultural production in the country of origin, the packaging of the roses and their transport to...
68th LCA forum, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, 16 April, 2018
In recent years, accounting for greenhouse gas emissions due to national consumption has been of increasing interest, as transformative strategies towards a “low-carbon” economy are inevitable to restrict climate change below 2 °C temperature increase. Thus, every country has to implement effective measures to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions at...
The contribution (in German) presents results from IEA PVPS Task 12 activities, in particular the environmental footprint of future residential scale PV electricity and of recycling of crystalline and CdTe module recycling.
Shaping and channeling the transformation of the global energy system require an understanding of the life cycle environmental impacts of available technology options. With photovoltaic electricity generation expected to be the largest, least cost, and most relevant source of energy globally by mid-century, the environmental and resource implicatio...
Shaping and channeling the transformation of the global energy system requires an understanding of the life cycle environmental impacts of available technology options. With photovoltaic electricity generation expected to be the largest, least cost and most relevant source of energy globally by mid-century, the environmental and resource implicatio...
THE PRODUCT ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT (PEF) OF PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES – LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT PILOT PHASE ON THE WAY TO A SINGLE MARKET FOR GREEN PRODUCTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Die Treibhausgasemissionen des Schweizer Lieferanten- und Versorgungsmixes 2014 sowie der Schweizer Fernwärmemixe 2015 (Durchschnitt aller Netze und Durchschnitt der Netze mit Kehrichtverbrennungsanlagen) wurden konform zu den Regeln des GHG Protocols (WBCSD & WRI 2011, 2013; WBCSD & WSI 2013) in die drei Scopes 1, 2 und 3 unterteilt. Zusätzlich wu...
Solar photovoltaics (PV) is the second largest source of new capacity among renewable energies. The worldwide capacity encompassed 135 GW in 2013 and is estimated to increase to 1721 GW in 2030 and 4674 GW in 2050, according to a prospective high-renewable scenario. To achieve this production level while minimizing environmental impacts, decision m...
Increasing needs for decision support and advances in scientific knowledge within life cycle assessment (LCA) led to substantial efforts to provide global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) indicators under the auspices of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. As part of these efforts, a dedicated task force focused on ad...
Energy policy in Belgium: Early phase out of Nuclear Power plants Quantify environmental impacts and in particular human health damages caused by electricity production with current power plant technologies
Factor 10 between highest (hard coal) and lowest (onshore wind) human health impacts Power plant operation is most important for fossil fueled...
A recent paper by Ferroni and Hopkirk (2016) asserts that the ERoEI (also referred to as EROI) of photovoltaic (PV) systems is so low that they actually act as net energy sinks, rather than delivering energy to society. Such claim, if accurate, would call into question many energy investment decisions. In the same paper, a comparison is also drawn...
The 62nd life cycle assessment (LCA) forum was held on 9 September 2016 to discuss the state of research and application with regard to consequential life cycle assessment. This conference report presents the highlights of the LCA forum. The state of the art of consequential LCA was presented from different viewpoints. It was pointed out that conse...
Purpose Guidance is needed on best suited indicators to quantify and monitor the man-made impacts on human health, biodiversity and resources. Therefore, the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative initiated a global consensus process to agree on an updated overall life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) framework and to recommend a non-comprehensive list of...
Life cycle inventories of rail transport services of passengers and goods shipped in Switzerland and selected European countries are described in this report. It covers regional, long distance and high speed trains.
The life cycle inventories of passenger transports by electric cars, bus, trolleybus, coach
and tram, the freight transports by light commercial vehicle as well as the operation of
building machines and hydraulic diggers were updated in this study based on the most
recent data available. New life cycle inventories were created to model passenger
tr...
The water transport life cycle inventories cover inland freight transport (bulk and tanker) and transoceanic freight transport (bulk, container and oil) and passenger inland water transport.
This report contains life cycle inventories of aircraft, helicopter and cable car transport services. Aircraft transport LCIs distinguish between the ticket classes economy, business and first. Furthermore climate change impacts of stratospheric CO2 emissions are 1.37 kg CO2-eq/kg CO2.
Helicopter transportation life cycle inventories distinguish be...
Dieser Kurzbericht enthält die wesentlichen Informationen über die Umweltaus-wirkungen des Schweizer Strommixes im Jahr 2014. Es wird unter¬schieden zwischen dem Produktions-Strommix (in der Schweiz produzierter Strom), dem Lieferanten-Strommix (an die Schweizer Endkunden gelieferter Strom), dem durchschnittlichen Schweizer Stromprodukt aus erneuer...
This report contains answers to a selection of questions related to the environmental impacts of transport services as published in mobitool v2.0
Die Emissionen aus dem Verkehr gefährden die Einhaltung der Schweizer Klimaschutzziele: Insgesamt stehen 55 bis 60 Prozent des Treibstoffverbrauches und der damit verbundenen Emissionen in direktem oder indirektem Zusammenhang mit Unternehmensentscheiden. Etwa ein Fünftel der Verkehrsemissionen verursacht der Güterverkehr.
Die Internetplattform mob...
This presentation will focus in on the role of borrowing and dissipative resource use in impact assessment of abiotic resources. Material resources
on earth cannot be lost (unless converted into energy or lost into space) but might be dispersed.
Departing from the premises that resources represent a separate AoP, and have an intrinsic value, the qu...
Due to a misinterpretation of an information source, the characterisation factor of geothermal energy within the approach CED energy statistics approach was wrongly reported and applied. This affected the case study results using this approach. In this paper, the correct tables and figures are displayed.
